Fix KB974417 Installation Failure

Fix KB974417 Installation Failure—Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2 Security Update for Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP

Microsoft’s KB974417—.NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 2 Security Update for Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP—fails to install in Windows Server 2003 SP2 / Windows XP SP3 reportedly when computers are part of a domain using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).


Solution

Uninstall KB976569 (issued February 22, 2010), install KB974417 and then reinstall KB976569.

Make Linux use local time

If you have dual boot (windows/linux) and every time you switch from Linux to Windows your computer clock is wrong, it is because Linux is set by default to use UTC and Windows is set by default to use your local time zone's time (i.e. EDT, PST, etc).

To make your Ubuntu system read the hardware clock as 'local' :

1: edit /etc/default/rcS
2: add or change the following section:

# Set UTC=yes if your system clock is set to UTC (GMT)
UTC=no


REF: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuTime

Restore BACKSPACE functionality to take you to the previous page in Firefox on Linux

1. Type “about:config” in the address bar of Firefox and press Enter.
2. Type backspace in 'Filter' and look for ‘browser.backspace_action’
3. Change its value to 0 (zero).

More information

Background

The backspace key was mapped to the browser ‘Back’ function in Mozilla for consistency with Internet Explorer. However, to improve consistency with other applications running on Linux, it was decided that this mapping should be optional—and set based on which platform the browser was running on. As a compromise, this preference was created to allow the backspace key to either go back/forward, scroll up/down a page, or do nothing.

Possible values and their effects

0:
Pressing [Backspace] will go back a page in the session history and [Shift]+[Backspace] will go forward. (Default in Windows)

1:
Pressing [Backspace] will scroll up a page in the current document and [Shift]+[Backspace] will scroll down. (Default in Linux builds before 2006-12-07)

Other:
Any other integer value will simply unmap the backspace key. In Linux builds after 2006-12-07, the default is 2.

Reference: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.backspace_acti

Can't change home page in IE

Consider the following scenario:

- Internet Explorer starts with a page other than what you entered as home page.
- You change the home page to a different one but even so every time you start IE it goes to the other page.
- You have verified that the registry entry for IE is actually the website you entered as home page.

Cause: I addition to your home page which is actually stored as "Start Page" in the system registry there is another entry named "First Home page" that will, if present, be the first page displayed when you open IE. "First Home page" references a URL that is normally displayed only once and then "First Home page" entry is deleted as soon as that URL has been displayed.

Solution: Delete the registry entry "First Home Page"

How to Set Security in Windows XP Professional That Is Installed in a Workgroup

This article describes how to set permissions in a workgroup after an upgrade from Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional to Microsoft Windows XP Professional.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

In Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional, if working in a workgroup, the Security tab is hidden by default. This behavior occurs because in Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional, guests are forced to log on to a workgroup.

NOTE: Security can only be set in an NTFS partition. If you remove the Everyone group from the NTFS permissions, the file or folder is inaccessible over the network.

When Simple file sharing is enabled, the user is presented with the Simple File Sharing UI rather than the classic "Security" and "Sharing" tabs. This new UI is implemented by default in Windows XP, Windows XP Home Edition, and Windows XP Professional when working in a workgroup. However, the computer is started in Safe mode, the ACL editor is displayed.

The simplified Sharing UI is different for My Documents and the folders that are located in My Documents. When the My Documents folder is opened, the following options are displayed:

• Only I have access to this folder
• This folder is shared on the network
  Share name:
• Allow other users to change my files

However, when the other folders is opened, the following options are displayed:

• Share name:
• Allow other users to change my files

In addition, when a user password is created in Control Panel, the Protect The My Documents Folder option is displayed. On a Windows XP Professional-based computer, only you can make a registry change to show the classic security UI.

Registry Key and Values

When security settings are set in Windows XP, the following registry key is used:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa

The values are:

• ForceGuest=1: Use this value to force guests on
• ForceGuest=0: Use this value to force guests off

The following table describes the default value for the ForceGuest registry key for each operating system mode and the Sharing UI and ACL editor behavior.

Operating system and mode	ForceGuest	Sharing UI	ACL editor
Personal	1 (no choice)	Simple	Not available
Personal in Safe mode	1 (no choice)	Classic	Available
Professional	0*	Classic	Available
Professional	1	Simple	Not available
Professional in Safe mode	0	Classic	Available
Professional in Safe mode	1	Classic	Available

Windows XP Professional defaults to normal authentication but supports the Log on as Guest option. For example, if the computer is upgraded from Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, and Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows XP Professional uses the Guest if in a workgroup option by default.

NOTE: You cannot share a folder that is located in My Documents after you configure the simple Sharing and Security setting to Only I have access to this folder. When security is set for the parent folder, security is set on all child folders; security settings cannot be changed from the child folders.

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APPLIES TO

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional

source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290403

ASA 5505: switch ingress policy drops shows a large number of packets dropped

This is what CISCO says about this counter:

This drop is usually seen when a port is not configured correctly. This drop is incremented when a packet cannot be successfully forwarded within switch ports as a result of the default or user configured switch port settings. The following configurations are the likely reasons for this drop:

•The nameif command was not configured on the VLAN interface.

Note For interfaces in the same VLAN, even if the nameif command was not configured, switching within the VLAN is successful, and this counter does not increment.

•The VLAN is shut down.

•An access port received an 802.1Q-tagged packet.

•A trunk port received a tag that is not allowed or an untagged packet.

•The security appliance is connected to another Cisco device that has Ethernet keepalives. For example, Cisco IOS software uses Ethernet loopback packets to ensure interface health. This packet is not intended to be received by any other device; the health is ensured just by being able to send the packet. These types of packets are dropped at the switch port, and the counter increments.

•The VLAN only has one physical interface, but the DEST of the packet does not match the MAC address of the VLAN, and it is not the broadcast address.

In my case the reason was # 5, a second CISCO device

Source: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/asa/asa72/command/reference/s3_72.html#wp1283345